I love fireworks, especially the big skyrockets, but there is a danger factor there that I long ignored until I was forced to be more careful. A
friend and I used to put on a real extravaganza he started with another friend every New Year's Eve at La Bocana de Santo Tomas -- skyrockets,
mortars, girandolas, missile blocks, bottle rockets, fountains, roman candles, m80s, m1000s, black cats, etc. If they sold it in Ensenada, we blew it
up. A few times we even worked a nice dry Christmas tree festooned with firecrackers into the show.
For those who don't know, the area is very sparsely populated. It's a couple of miles from the fishing port at Puerto Santo Tomas, which is the only
"populated" area around there, with maybe a couple of dozen permanent residents. A number of folks from the few houses in the surrounding area would
come to my friend's house to watch the fireworks, and those who had dogs that were bothered by fireworks were sensible enough to leave them at home,
locked up.
Anyway, a few years ago we had a premature explosion of one of the really big rockets while it was still in its tube on our launch deck, about 4 feet
in front of us. I suffered some permanent hearing loss and received a lifetime gift of tinnitus. My friend had similar symptoms. Fortunately, those
were the only physical injuries we suffered. My eyeglasses took a piece of the rocket dead center in the right eyepiece and likely saved my right
eye. My sweatshirt took a few hits and had a few burn holes as well. The spectators thought it was all part of the show and loved it, but my friend
and I agreed that we were damn lucky not to have been more severely injured.
I still do fireworks, but I deal with them more deliberately in preparing and lighting them, and I get out of the launch area completely after
ignition instead of standing just back of the blast zone. I wear gloves, safety glasses (those prescription eyeglasses are expensive to replace),
fire-resistant clothes, and earplugs, and I always have a fire extinguisher and a hose at hand and make sure that water pressure is good before
starting. Fireworks can and should be both fun and safe. BOOM! |